


Once you pop

by middlemarch



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cones of Dunshire, Dare, Doctors & Physicians, F/M, Humor, Pringles, Romance, Snacks & Snack Food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 16:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9664592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: It is an unspoken rule of medicine. Never say the shift is "quiet," only "the q-word." Unless you are prepared for Armageddon.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tvsn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvsn/gifts).



“It has nothing to do with potatoes, Jed. I’m not eating those—it’s like a tube of hypertension,” Mary announced. The ER was slow and they were hanging out in the staff lounge. Jed had brought a vast array of Pringles in his backpack, which he’d arranged like Ben Wyatt’s Cones of Dunshire and had been begging-slash-daring her to eat them for the past hour.

“I don’t believe you. It’s the potato thing. Which I still don’t get. Who doesn’t like potatoes? They’re so versatile. And they make French fries out of them,” Jed replied. 

He could get like this when it was the q-word but she couldn’t wish for a trauma just to save her from a harangue about snack food. Or the pointlessness of both forms of squash, the vegetable and the sport. The rant about Beowulf had actually been good, a little like a personal TED talk and she’d been sorry when they had to go evaluate a compound fracture. He’d let her assist when he saw it was Gibson attending and she’d blown him a kiss as she walked to the OR, shimmying in her scrubs. She hadn’t thought he’d do anything but laugh at the shimmy in scuffed Danksos, her ponytail tucked into a surgical cap, her scrubbed hands up in the air but it seemed like Char was right about him. And them. That there could be a them and that they both wanted there to be. Char had been more eloquent but that was the jist.

“I just don’t like them, 42% potato or 142%. Not in a house, not with a mouse, I do not like them, Sam-I-Am,” she said, smiling as he crunched through another one. There were now Pringles crumbs in his beard which should be the furthest thing from sexy. It was not the furthest thing for Mary, so she picked up the closest tube to prevent herself from reaching out to brush her hand far too close to that wicked delicious mouth.

“Screaming Dill Pickle? The pickle screams? Or you scream when you eat it? C’mon, these are gross,” she added, shaking the canister. It made a nice sound, kind of like a maraca, you had to give it that. 

“Well, you bring the snacks next time. I dare you to bring a potato-based snack,” he retorted, scooting his chair back a little from the table so he could his feet up. Oh, he was a tall drink of water and being around the forest of Pringles, Mary found she was thirsty. Very thirsty.

“Are we twelve? You have to dare me?” she asked.

“I don’t have to. I like to,” he replied, smiling, stroking his beard. “You never actually refuse a dare, did you know that?”

“If you know that, why’re you only daring me to eat Pringles?” she said, deciding it was a slow night, a quiet night and she would take her chances. She would have said her chances looked pretty fucking good except that was when their pagers went off and they both grabbed their stethoscopes and bolted.

“I dare you not to forget about this,” he said as they ran to the ICU. 

He didn’t need an answer so she didn’t give one but they both knew she wouldn’t forget and remembering, she would do something when the shift was over. The caf made a decent hash brown but her grandmother was from Quebec and Mary made a mean poutine. And if there was any left on his lips, she would not wait for the dare before she took care of that. And him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a snacky little ficlet about snack food and potatoes and Pringles based on a little Tumblr exchange. There are references to Parks and Rec, Dr. Seuss, and TED talks. Pringles really are only 42% potato and there is a screaming dill flavor. I hope you enjoy!


End file.
